Brendan Nyhan

The One Thing Everyone in America Can Agree On? Costco
Why the warehouse club with a mass appeal rivaling Hollywood’s may be our last best source of common culture
www.wsj.com/business/ret...

The One Thing Everyone in America Can Agree On? Costco

What it means for the popular warehouse club to become a piece of common culture.

Happening right in front of us. The world's richest man.

"More than half of those fired or removed by Mr. Hegseth from promotion lists have been female or Black."

Kai Ryssdal @kairyssdal.bsky.social

Once again, Hegseth and Trump are resegregating the military along racial and sexual lines. It’s disgraceful. www.nytimes.com/2026/07/14/u...

Opportunities Narrow for Women as Hegseth Blocks More Promotions

For the first time in more than a decade, no active-duty female Navy officers are likely to be promoted to admiral this year.

Murkowski: Why I’m Voting Against the SAVE America Act www.wsj.com/opinion/why-...

Exporting democratic erosion

Matthew Hay Brown @matthewhaybrown.bsky.social

UPDATE Brazil has denied visas to the two State Department officials Trump planned to send to undermine confidence in the country’s electoral system

Brazil denies visas to U.S. delegation aiming to impugn election system, officials say

The U.S. delegation had planned to visit the Brazilian capital and cast doubt on the integrity of the voting system before a presidential election this fall, officials said.

"By early July, at the room’s most crowded, each person had about 10 square feet. This is equivalent to an old-fashioned phone booth."

1/5 of what a judge said was required.

Grotesque.

Drew Harwell @drewharwell.com

86 people in a single ICE holding room, "all jostling for space in a closet of humanity that smelled of sweat, urine and feces." What would we call it anywhere else? www.washingtonpost.com/immigration/...

Watch what they do, not what they say

Sheryl Gay Stolberg @sherylnyt.bsky.social

New White House plan reimagines American science — more $$ for AI, less for universities and the “life sciences.” Written by Trump’s science adviser, who is a Silicon Valley tech guy, not a scientist. www.nytimes.com/2026/07/22/u...

Trump’s Plan for Science: More Money for A.I., Less for Universities

Michael Kratsios, President Trump’s science adviser, proposed overhauling how the government funds research. Democrats said Mr. Trump’s actions had weakened science.

"DOE accepts that the inclusion of grants in the October notice tranche was based solely on the political identity of the grant recipient's state, i.e., whether the recipient's location and/or place of performance was in a Blue State or a non-Blue State."

Ruben Rabasa in ITYSL: He Admit It!

ALT: Ruben Rabasa in ITYSL: He Admit It!

tony romm @tonyromm.bsky.social

It's part of a major federal court case over those cancelations. Here's what the government admitted as part of a process meant to avoid discovery (and perhaps spare it from sharing more damaging records):

Proud to have signed this

Lee Drutman @leedrutman.bsky.social

More than 500 scholars agree: "We write to urge Congress to do what most democracies have already done: adopt proportional representation." proud to be among them. medium.com/@scholars-re...

Letter to Congress: End the Redistricting Wars by Adopting Proportional Representation

Gerrymandering persists because single-member districts allow it.

Literally "We have always been at war with Eastasia"

Daniel Drezner @dandrezner.bsky.social

Is it me or does this description of “the status quo for decades” bear zero resemblance with reality? www.nytimes.com/2026/07/20/u...

So much this:

"Why the smartest people in the room keep missing that intelligence is often not the main bottleneck in the real world"
www.writingruxandrabio.com/p/intelligen...

Institutions, laws, and regulations matter. Politics matter (ask Dario and Sam!).

Kids: Study social science.

This. Do NOT rush through on deadline. The evidence is clear. Be ready.

"if I was trying to ruin American leadership in scientific research this is pretty much the kind of rule I would write"

Daniel Drezner @dandrezner.bsky.social

Good morning. Nothing to see here, just the possible end of American scientific research as we know it. open.substack.com/pub/danieldr...

The Trump Administration's Existential Threat to Scientific Research

You want a request for comment?! I got your comment right here.

All can be true:
1. Universities have been targeted by a decades-long bad faith campaign
2. Status quo is vastly more normal than craziest stuff on Fox/social media, esp. outside elite schools
3. Parts of academia are in rough shape

Despite 1 & 2, we can and should address 3.

"the second time in a week that federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents have stopped the wrong vehicle while executing an arrest warrant and fatally shot someone."

Ben Collins @bencollins.bsky.social

No hell too hot. www.sunjournal.com/2026/07/13/i...

More hostage-taking

Catherine Rampell @crampell.bsky.social

Trump administration pauses $1 bln in Medicaid payments to California, Minnesota www.reuters.com/world/us-hea...

Trump administration pauses $1 bln in Medicaid payments to California, Minnesota

The Trump administration is pausing over $1 billion in ‌Medicaid payments to California and Minnesota "because of suspected fraud and noncompliance," U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. said ...

Selling access to Trump's tweets to businesses held hostage by the mad king (and thus worried about what he'll do/say and how it'll affect their bottom line). Just endless grifting.

Unprecedented corruption

Eric Lipton NYT @ericlipton.nytimes.com

JUST POSTED: Trump Paid $2 Million by South Korean Company Facing Trade Investigation The payment illustrates the minefield Mr. Trump has created by maintaining personal financial ties with foreign businesses while he is in office. www.nytimes.com/2026/07/14/u...

Trump Paid $2 Million by South Korean Company Facing Trade Investigation

The payment illustrates the minefield Mr. Trump has created by maintaining personal financial ties with foreign businesses while he is in office.

Not now, mysterious space debris

CNN @cnn.com

Six mysterious metal spheres that washed ashore last weekend at Forrest Beach in northern Queensland, Australia, are “suspected space debris,” the Australian Space Agency announced Monday on social media. https://cnn.it/4bzjbLy

Musk in 2015: “Tesla will have a car that can do full autonomy in about three years"

Karl Bode @karlbode.com

CEO said a thing!

Elon Musk Says Grok Will Make Feature-Length, AI-Generated and “Historically Accurate” ‘The Odyssey’ Movie Before the Year Ends

But for all of the outrage Musk has drummed up around 'The Odyssey' — particularly over the casting of Lupita Nyong'o and Elliot Page — the film has not notably suffered at the box office at all.

The Biddeford shooter.

Seahawks 49ers Vs Saints: They Are Who We Thought They Were!

ALT: Seahawks 49ers Vs Saints: They Are Who We Thought They Were!

"could"

Ann M. Lipton @annmlipton.bsky.social

someone really needs to do an accounting of this particular headline structure www.nytimes.com/2026/07/26/u...

Trump Is Pushing Nuclear Energy, Including Saudi Deal. His Family and Supporters Could Benefit.

In some cases, no direct line can be drawn from the president’s domestic nuclear agenda to his family or close allies. But they have overlapping business ties that could position them for gains.